Blood Bound
Rachel Vincent
Release: August 23, 2011
Purchase Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Nook Version | Kindle Version
Rating: 5 Stars

By blood, by word, by magic…
Most can’t touch the power. But Liv Warren is special— a paranormal tracker who follows the scent of blood.

Liv makes her own rules, and the most important one is trust no one.

But when her friend’s daughter goes missing, Liv has no choice but to find the girl. Thanks to a childhood oath, Liv can’t rest until the child is home safe. But that means trusting Cam Caballero, the former lover forbidden to her.

Bound by oath and lost in desire for a man she cannot have, Liv is racing to save the child from a dark criminal underworld where secrets, lies, trauma and danger lurk around every corner…every touch…every kiss.

And more blood will be spilled before it’s over…

Rachel Vincent can do no wrong. Yes, I said it and I probably mean it. Over the years I’ve undoubtedly grown as a reader and reviewer, and sometimes my increasingly high expectation as to what makes a truly great urban fantasy novel leaves me feeling unsatisfied with what I come across. Yet, not once has Rachel Vincent fallen under that increasingly high bar. In some aspects I feel as if we have grown together. You know, as much as two people who don’t know each other can, and not in a creepy sort of way. Or maybe it is simply that her own development as a writer and continued success as a story teller has influenced the ‘standard of excellence’ I hold other novels and authors up to.

Who are these people?

Liv Warren is a tracker, capable of finding people (unofficially) within a 300 mile radius through even the smallest drop of blood. She is one of the Skilled, a subset of people born with special skills that go largely ignored by society. With the exception of criminal syndicates and the government, of course.

I’ve sat for at least ten minutes trying to think of one word that adequately describes Liv and nothing fits just right, except maybe desperate, or desolate, or confident, or defiant, or flawed, or empowered, or …see, the list goes on. She is complicated. She does what she has to in order to survive and keep her friends safe, even if they don’t realize she is doing it. Her world is full of black, white, gray, and boundary lines that were meant to be pushed up against and bent.

Cam Caballero, is the one she can’t have. There is certainly more to him and their relationship, but honestly Liv carries this story on her own. Their romance is secondary, if not unremarkable to the story as a whole.

What is this book even about?

Bound by a blood oath taken as a young girl, Liv is forced to help a friend find and kill a man in the name of revenge. Yet, when is revenge ever a simple and straight forward task? Coerced to work with a man she loves, but believes she is a danger to, Liv Warren finds herself neck deep in a complicated ring of criminal politics that threatens to expose her own secrets with every passing hour.

Trackers find people, Jammers keep Trackers from finding people. Travelers teleport through shadows and Binders can make promises a death sentence. There is an entire world of Skilled people officially ignored by society and the government, but unofficially used by both. The basic plot in itself isn’t revolutionary, it doesn’t need to be. Instead its a steady and well paced constant nestled among a rapidly shifting world and cast of characters.

What did I like love about this story?

The creativity. The innovation. The sense that this series would be unlike anything else I’ve read in urban fantasy so far. One of the things I enjoyed so much about Rachel Vincent’s previous Shifter series was that she didn’t just build a story resting on the back of traditional paranormal “shifter” lore, but instead created her own. She does the same with this new series, blazing a trail that is entirely hers and entirely unique to the genre. Not only is the world building creative and innovative, but it is believable. The characters, events, and dynamics of the Unbound world teeter along the line of credible possibilities in such a way that one can’t help being completely captivated.

What gave me pause….?

Truthfully, very little. I did find the romance subplot to be less interesting than the rest, but it certainly wasn’t badly done or in any way detrimental to the novel. It is likely my own disinterest in romance in general as of late, rather than the subplot itself. I’d like to speculate it could have been written without it, but I fear we’d lose character growth within Liv that manifested nicely because of the romantic entanglements. If you enjoy a good bit of romantic tension in your urban fantasy, this book has the perfect portion of it.

Favorite Quote

“But before you start officially asking me for help, you need to understand that there are certain requests I can’t carry out, and making those particular requests would be like pushing my self-destruct button. I’ll implode, like the fuckin’ Death Star.”

“Um, point of fact, I believe the Death Star exploded,” Cam said, leaning back on a bar stool, his elbows propped behind him on the counter. “Twice.”

“Congratulations. Your official super-nerd badge is in the mail,” Kori said, but I couldn’t get past the part about me accidentally pushing her self-destruct button.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit! “Please tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it means….”

Should you read this book?

Yes. In fact, if you only try one new series or one new author this year, Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent should be at the top of your list.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.